Tightening Your Blood Sugar Control

Related Multimedia

Click on an icon to view.

Test More Often

Frequent blood sugar testing (several times a day) is absolutely essential once you've added a mealtime insulin. But even if you're not quite ready to make the switch to intensive insulin therapy, it's also a great way to get a handle on what's going on with your blood sugar. More frequent testing can identify when your sugars tend to go too high and too low, which is valuable information your healthcare provider can use to make suggestions to help you reach your blood sugar goals.

Be Well Prepared for Low Blood Sugar

This is good advice for anyone on insulin. It seems like nothing sabotages your best intentions more than the fear of low blood sugar. Be honest with your healthcare provider about this fear (which is, by the way, a healthy and useful fear). Your healthcare provider can help make changes to your regimen to help reduce the risk and can help you be very well prepared for the possibility.

How to prepare? Get a glucagon kit, carry glucose tablets, make sure everyone around you knows what to do to handle a low blood sugar emergency, and test your blood sugar often. Teach your kids, caregivers, neighbors, coworkers, and anybody else who will listen about how to spot low blood sugar emergencies and what to do.

Anticipate Weight Gain

Is the fear of weight gain from insulin holding you back from really controlling your blood sugar, since the more insulin you use, the more likely you are to pack on the pounds? Take heart; weight gain is something you can control to some extent.

A healthy diet and regular exercise are more important than ever and may help you manage your weight. A few changes in your oral diabetes medications or your insulin regimen can help minimize any weight gain that might occur. Talk with your doctor about your concerns and form a plan.

eMedTV serves only as an informational resource. This site does not dispense medical advice or advice of any kind.
Site users seeking medical advice about their specific situation should consult with their own physician. Click
Terms of Use for more information.

You've chosen to add topics from the topic group to your selected topics.

Are you sure you want to add all of these topics?

Are You Sure?

You've chosen to clear all of your selected topics. Remember, you need at least one selected topic to use HealthSavvy. If you choose this option, it cannot be undone, and you'll need to choose at least new topic to continue using your HealthSavvy programs.